as in forerunner
something belonging to an earlier time from which something else was later developed
the once-ubiquitous typewriter was the predecessor of today's electronic keyboard
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Recent Examples of predecessor
The final installation in Nolan's trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises, takes place eight years after its predecessor and sees Gotham City cut off from the rest of the world by a terrorist named Bane, played by a masked Tom Hardy.
—
Rebecca Aizin, People.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Season 2 of the intense medical drama will take place 10 months after its predecessor during another harrowing 15-hour shift.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 11 Apr. 2025
Lewandowski excels at identifying and occupying spaces rather than in one-touch, pass-and-move sequences the way predecessor Suarez did.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
Of course, many will say that previous generations had it just as hard, and that millennials and Gen Z are facing the challenges that their predecessors overcame.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for predecessor
Rebecca Aizin, People.com, 9 Apr. 2025
Season 2 of the intense medical drama will take place 10 months after its predecessor during another harrowing 15-hour shift.
—Randall Colburn, EW.com, 11 Apr. 2025
Lewandowski excels at identifying and occupying spaces rather than in one-touch, pass-and-move sequences the way predecessor Suarez did.
—Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 10 Apr. 2025
Of course, many will say that previous generations had it just as hard, and that millennials and Gen Z are facing the challenges that their predecessors overcame.
—Daniel R. Depetris, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for predecessor
Recent Examples of Synonyms for predecessor
Noun
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Yet this brand of Christian Zionism is clearly the forerunner to today’s – and holds sway in Washington.—
Shalom Goldman,
The Conversation,
2 Apr. 2025
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The title is an apt, if sort of obvious, introduction to Turner, who has been hailed as the forerunner to modern art.—
Tessa Solomon,
ARTnews.com,
28 Mar. 2025
Noun
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Until recently, the ancestors of insects were thought to be more millipede-like and evolved once invertebrates began to live on land.—
Riley Black,
Smithsonian Magazine,
9 Apr. 2025
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During the Pleistocene, our ancestors lived through several different ice ages.—
Laura Baisas,
Popular Science,
9 Apr. 2025
Noun
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In addition, neighborhoods would no longer be required — as a precursor to meters — to test out two-hour and three-hour parking zones enforced by chalking tires instead of meters.—
David Garrick,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
6 Apr. 2025
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Directed by Arthur Penn, who brought a bold visual style, frank sexuality and graphic, balletic violence to a Hollywood dominated by optimistic pictures, this countercultural romance served as a precursor to the generational tension and mistrust in authority that was quietly pervading the country.—
Travis Bean,
Forbes.com,
5 Apr. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Predecessor.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/predecessor. Accessed 21 Apr. 2025.
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